Token sale live

Our solution

Our first two steps in giving you access to the new economy is to enable you to participate in the Benchmark Crypto Hedge Fund and in the Benchmark Crypto Exchange. As a holder of Benchmark Utility Tokens, you will enjoy significant discounts on fees in both these entities.

Our highly skilled team of venture capital, business and financing experts will assess the viability of all projects and provide a gateway to sustainable projects via the BMK token

Complete and transparent process from project evaluation to funding. Participants will be able to monitor projects via their website, social media platforms and can also request to visit the specific operation if they are in the country.

Area

Description

Benchmark Crypto Exchange

To maintain liquidity through access to crypto and fiat currencies through a decentralized exchange supported by the liquidity of a centralized exchange

Additional use cases of the BMK in the near future

Marketplace

BMK is required to make the marketplace function, programmatic access - (e.g. recruitment of new users, operations and additional functionality on the marketplace)

Currency

For all funded projects BMK will become the primary payment method, e.g each successful project listed on our marketplace will benefit from services provided through BMK. It will also used as the base currency to provide peer to peer loans through the Benchmark Finance Company in various companies and as a means of exchange for payments between various ring-fenced companies

New product development

In the future, in order to increase BMK adoption we will see the creation of the Benchmark wallet and Benchmark ATMS to serve employees and customers at major Benchmark installations

Integrations

Potential for off-chain integrations (e.g. M-Pesa)

Access

Access to marketplace and entry fee when launching a new project, access to additional membership tools and early access to new projects

Projects

Projects you can participate in - with more to come

Participate with us in numerous scalable, ring fenced projects in cutting edge Fintech and in Planet Friendly Recycling, 360-degree green building and renewable energy. Be involved for the long term through Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Benchmark Finance Company

Teaching the unbanked majority to be financially literate and how to become savers, entrepreneurs and sophisticated investors.

Key fact

Businesslike but affordable finance options at the lower end of the market through the proven principles of the Grameen Bank model.

Our first proposed Material Recycling Facility will be in Alexandra near Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a highly profitable business in which most of your input material comes with a payment from the parties delivering the material because the business represents the only viable alternative to dumping in a landfill.

Key fact

Practically unlimited supply of suitable waste material delivered to site at no charge. Excellent labour supply in an adjoining township. Solves a major environmental problem.

Part of an ecosystem of white label crypto exchanges designed to create a network of multiple venues that utilises the synergies of a unified liquidity pool.

Key fact

Holders of Benchmark Utility Tokens will enjoy savings in fees when they join a Benchmark Crypto Exchange. Benchmark Crypto Exchanges will be decentralized exchanges, able to individually comply with the laws of various countries while being supported by the liquidity of a common orderbook and centralized trading engine. Entry into the market will be at much lower cost than what would be the case if an exchange was to be developed from scratch. This also makes it possible to deploy multiple exchanges in various countries very rapidly and thus gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Benchmark Finance Company

Creation of 10,000 clubs all on the basis of the highly successful Grameen banking model where members will pay a monthly subscription fee depending on the type of club. From these clubs there will be a considerable demand for peer-to-peer lending, various peer to peer insurance products and mortgage products. These products will all be run by Benchmark Finance Companies that will be funded in accordance with the Benchmark model.

An international digital bank licensed in accordance with the laws of Europe and other jurisdictions. As it will not be a deposit taking institution it will participate in SEPA and it will also, through interlinking relationships, be able to process Cryptocurrency and fiat payments through the international payment process. This digital bank will be funded in accordance with the Benchmark model that will invite holders of Benchmark Utility Tokens to participate in the development of this bank.

6 to 8 regional peer to peer lending, insurance and mortgage lending companies in South Africa and similar individual companies in Ghana, Zambia and Canada. These will all be funded in line with the Benchmark model.

Material Recycling Facility

Mr Ian Sibusiso Gwebu, our chemical engineer with 20 years experience in the Material Recycling Facility field has proven that the SADC region can economically develop up to 35 units such as the one proposed for Alexandra over the next 10 years.

REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust)

On the first Material Recycling Facility the principles have negotiated to acquire three adjoining industrial properties that will enable the efficient processing of very large quantities of material for recycling.

Benchmark has, together with the partners in JMCI, negotiated with the owners of the two industrial properties for these to be purchased by the Benchmark Real Estate Investment Trust.

Benchmark Real Estate Investment Trust will enter into a long-term lease agreement with JMCI that will provide Benchmark with a reasonable, market related rental income on a triple net lease basis. Benchmark is anticipating a return of at least 15% in year one which it expects will grow by 8% per annum during the currency of the lease. A minimum of 75% of the profits derived from this lease will be distributed among shareholders, securing a better than market return to them.

All future Material Recycling Facilities will also grant an option to Benchmark to acquire and rent to the acquiring project the property on terms that will be fair to both parties.

REIT will also acquire all the green communities developed by Benchmark’s own fully integrated model which comprises green building material manufacture and renewable energy systems. The property development with these materials will then be sold to the REIT which creates a perfect circle of endeavour.

Tenkiv

Benchmark has formed a Joint Venture with the developers of the technology to fund the final R&D, to develop industrial scale production methodologies, to determine optimum product size and set up a production facility in Porto, Portugal.Proof of concept has been fully completed on the technologies and the required Patents are in place.

The technology is unique and scalable to very large installations. It is highly cost competitive (holding a fivefold advantage over existing methods) and holds several unique selling features that will mean that it is a much better idea than standard photovoltaic panels.

It addresses the fundamental problems with potable water in almost any environment where there is sun and at the same time it generates electricity at a cost that cannot be duplicated elsewhere.

Because of its unique features Benchmark expects very high earnings from this project upon full implementation.

Benchmark Crypto Hedge Fund

Benchmark has extensive experience in asset management. The Benchmark Crypto Hedge Fund will be capitalised with 50 Million BMKs and founders will contribute a further 20 million BMKs to the initial capital. The Hedge Fund will use the following strategies to increase value for the Fund:

About half of the available capital will be invested in the 10 best performing crypto Hedge Funds and rebalance this periodically, making it a 'Fund of Funds'.

Benchmark will take positions in new ICO's that comply with it's investment criteria.

About 20 percent will be used for typical long and short Hedging Strategies.

The Benchmark Trading Exchange

Our First Step in making the New Economy available is through the establishment of the Benchmark Crypto Exchange. The first exchange will be launched in South Africa during July 2018. The exchange will form part of an ecosystem of white label crypto exchanges designed to create a network of multiple venues that utilises the synergies of a unified liquidity pool.

Holders of Benchmark Utility Tokens will enjoy significant savings and other incentives when trading on the Benchmark Crypto Exchange. A wide range of crypto currencies and alt tokens will be available on the Benchmark Crypto Exchange.In every new economy token issue there are two very important concerns that must be carefully taken into consideration at all times by management:

the value of the business that underlies the token issued for the business;

the liquidity of the token.

Benchmark International will successfully manage the integrity of its ecosystem through its multiple profitable business activities as it facilitates the participation in the new economy by the Benchmark Utility Token holders and the eventual holders of security tokens where these would be required to satisfy legal strictures.

There will always be Buyers for the Benchmark Utility Token because of its listing on the Bancor Network and through its own White Label based crypto exchanges provided by http://expread.io.

Benchmark International estimates that it will over time have the demand, the market and the resources to develop 6 or more local decentralised exchanges using the proposed white label relationship with Expread.

This will ensure adequate access for Benchmark to the crypto markets to perform all its business functions.

Pieter Coetzer

Corporate Finance and Business Development

Pieter Coetzer Sr has more than 40 years’ experience in financial services. He founded his own financial services company and provided investment and fund management services to more than 100 clients. He also worked as a financial management consultant and advised major companies worldwide. He has extensive entrepreneurial experience in ten countries.

Denis Quayle

Corporate Finance and Business Development

Denis Quayle is a graduate of Imperial College, London University, and has an MBA from the University of Cape Town. His early experience was in construction projects in South Africa and the Middle East. He now owns and manages an established residential Estate Agency in Cape Town, which is now trading under the Harcourts International brand.

Pieter Coetzer JR.

Project Planning and Management

Pieter holds a master’s degree Information Technology from the University of Pretoria. Also qualified as an Industrial Psychologist. He has had extensive Project Management Experience in several countries over extended periods. He has been at the head of numerous projects in IT development in many countries around the world

Dr. DOUGLAS LUND

Real Estate Development and Construction

Dr. Douglas Lund received his initial degrees in Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying at Durham University. He was then awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Engineering from Newcastle’s Polytechnic Institute based upon him designing and constructing Eldon Square – the largest Urban Development in Europe. He has been a senior executive of multi-billion US dollar companies in 9 different countries and has lived and worked in over 12 countries across the world – The United Kingdom, Iran, Afghanistan, Greece, Libya, Nigeria, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, South Africa, Austria and Switzerland.

As the Head of Sector for Basic Element, he led the negotiations to purchase 30% of Strabag, a construction company doing 10 Billion Euros per Year and 10% of Germany’s Hochteif – the largest Construction Company in the world. He has prepared master plans for Projects in Brooklyn NY, Cleveland Ohio, Vladyvostok Russia, Sochi Olympic Planning for Winter Olympics and more.

Douglas developed his philosophy on green building based on his initial 5 year experience in South Africa and will build on these ideas as he is surrounded by sustainable technologies in the Northern Hemisphere. He is one of the initial investors in Benchmark and has great confidence in Benchmark’s global potential for success.

KOBUS VAN ROOYEN

Cryptocurrency Specialist

Kobus van Rooyen is a Cryptocurrency Specialist who specialises in Finance and Fund Management. He has been involved in startups and business strategic planning of various businesses over the last 20 years. Kobus has been involved in crypto since 2015, and is the founder of CryptoMoney Pty (Ltd). in South Africa.

JOHAN GOUWS

Electrical Engineer

Johan has had extensive experience in all facets of managing city electrical networks starting as a trainee technician and advancing to Deputy City Engineer when he resigned to starting his own business. Johan has for the past 17 years served as technical director for two companies engaged in all aspects of facilities management with the focus on electrical services. Johan is presently assessing the viability decentralised, off grid electrical installations at schools and other institutions

Dr. Carsten Weinreich

Endocrinologist and Physician

Dr Carsten Weinreich practices as a specialist physician and endocrinologist since 2010 at Milnerton Mediclinic in Cape Town. He has strong interest in gerontology and in the development of business opportunities in the medical field and in real estate investment. He will provide invaluable insight into the medical needs of the retirement target market of the group.

RICK WILLIAMS

Attorney, Public Company Capital Formation, Business Development

Rick earned his law degree at the University of Ottawa in 1977 and has pursued his interests in international corporate commercial law and business ever since. In recent years, much of his activities have been in the international mining sector, where he is a senior officer and a director of several publicly listed companies. He has listed companies on the London, American and Vancouver Stock Exchanges and has carried out mergers and acquisitions in Europe, North and South America, Indonesia and China.

Jasper Cloete

Generational Wealth/Cooperative Banking/Entrepreneurship Development

Jasper Cloete has a BSc Hons and MBA and has extensive experience in Development Finance through his work experience at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and the Business Partners (previously Small Business Development Corporation). After successfully helping to grow an international product distribution company in Africa, he became fascinated with the concept of generational thinking and its role in developing sustainable generational wealth. This led to the establishment of the Generational Inheritance Group (GIG) and the GIG CFI (Cooperative Financial Institution). He became a shareholder and strategic partner in Benchmark on the strength of his belief that cryptocurrency is the future of banking and the projects that Benchmark is envisaging will become a powerful economic multiplier in the future.

Michael Hibbard

Business Development Specialist/Mining Executive

Michael Hibbard is President and CEO of Marine Mining Corp. which holds a prospecting licence over 240km of Ghana's coastline, an area that is highly prospective for gold, alluvial aggregates, and rare earths. Michael invests in commercial real estate in Toronto and is active in the stock market.

Christopher Smith

Entrepreneur/Investment Banker

Christopher Smith has 30 years of broad experience as an entrepreneur and international financial professional concentrating primarily on securitization and structured finance, mergers and acquisitions and international business development. He was the U.S. business development liaison for the first ever S&P rated Shariah-compliant US$ 165 million gas backed US securitization. He co-founded Renewable Energy Funding, LLC, which provides financial advisory and business development services to the renewable energy industry.

Mike Spencer

Master Practioner Real Estate/Property Developer Consultant

Mike Spencer is the Principal of Platinum Global Real Estate, a leading Bloemfontein based real estate agency. He is one of the acknowledged experts in South Africa in the management of body corporates and presently has several thousand body corporate clients. Mike has had over 40 years’ real estate experience and he has developed innovative retirement village concepts that are now ripe for implementation.

Muzi Kubeka

Operations and Finance Management

Muzi Kubeka is an experienced financial and operations manager with over 20 years experience at senior management level holding various portfolios in the sub Saharan Africa region. Muzi holds a Bcom and a Masters in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa. He brings business and people leadership skills that are crucial for successful project implementation.

Zulekha Cara

Crypto Entrepreneur and Trader

Zulekha Cara majored in Economics and Finance and has an honours degree in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management from the University of Cape Town. She is a driven entrepreneur who is passionate about business and wealth creation as well as cryptocurrencies and blockchain. She is a cryptocurrency investor and managing director of Cryptotraders Za – one of the leading cryptocurrency training providers in South Africa. Zulekha joined Benchmark because it is the perfect combination of business and crypto – it allows any participant of Benchmark to be able to create wealth by choosing to participate in different business ventures.

Chris Mutale

Entrepreneur

Chris Mutale is a Zambian born entrepreneur and strategic thinker. He holds a Bsc in Land Economy and is passionate about uplifting the lives of millions of Africans in order to help end poverty, disease and crime. He currently runs a leadership development program called Africa’s Next CEO.

Dr. Christian Ellul

Dr. Christian Ellul is a Maltese lawyer with 13 years of experience and now focused primarily on crypto and blockchain advisory especially in relation to ICOs and tokenomics. As one of the directors and founders of E&S Group, he has been involved in structuring, advising and assisting more than 25 ICOs projects to date.In 2018, Christian co-founded the ESTS Initiative, which leads to the tokenization of E&S Group’s services, a world first for a corporate and legal firm.Christian holds a Doctorate in Laws (LL.D.) from the University of Malta and an Adv. LL.M. in International Taxation from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Dr. Frederick Hölscher

Dr Hölscher is a seasoned academic and sociologist specializing in community development through constructive stakeholder dialogue. After leaving the academic world he practiced as a business consultant focusing on business improvement through human development and stakeholder engagement, assisting businesses in their role as social enterprise. He worked as an organisational development consultant in various countries globally and conducted numerous community development projects where business , government and civil society structures worked together for the benefit of all stakeholders. He currently lives in the UK and work as an adjunct at Ashridge Executive Education, part of Hult International Business School, where he does research in leadership development and specialising in the 'Future World of Work'.

Luke Szkudlarek

Luke has over ten years of international experience in the digital sector, having worked in companies and marketing agencies across the UK, Poland and Zurich. Luke is the Founding Partner and Digital Strategy Lead for what.digital, and has been since 2015. Having worked with international brands on their digital strategies for over a decade, he has a wealth of experience in managing successful marketing campaigns. Now leading growth hacking strategies for Blockchain projects at what.digital, Luke has helped to raise more than $50m through a number of token sale projects. His background and experience with crypto lends itself perfectly to help lead Benchmark's journey to success

Yaliwe Soko

Ms. Soko is one of the very few African women under 30 to be fully involved in the Blockchain and cryptocurrencies. She is the Founder of Essence Crypto Consultants and Johannesburg Women in Blockchain meetup. She serves as an ICO advisor for a number of projects and has recently completed a Blockchain and Cryptocurrency learner guide for beginners. Ms. Soko has sound knowledge of the oil and gas industry as well as corporate governance and corporate policies.

Mario Colombo

Mario has over 8 years of experience in communications, web development and digital marketing. Being the Technical Lead and Partner at what.digital, Mario has the know-how and track record to successfully implement Benchmark's technical requirements successfully. With proven experience as a Web Developer and Project Manager for mobile and web applications, and specialising in helping startups with prototyping, 'go to market' strategies, customer acquisition and growth hacking, Mario is perfectly suited to help launch and maintain Benchmark ecosystem over the coming years.

Alexei Strasser

Alexei launched his first business in affiliate marketing at the age of 20 while he was studying business economics. In 2013 he turned his attention to pro sports where he was part of the Beach Volleyball Swiss national team for several years. During this time he also learned programming and was developing on iOS. In 2017 he co-founded a food company, where he now sits on the board of advisors. Alexei has a keen eye for the crypto market and blockchain startups, having invested in a number of early and mid stage startups throughout the years.

Alexei’s experience and passion in the blockchain environment means he always knows what’s happening in the market and what is essential to deliver in order to be heard and respected by the community. At Benchmark, this leads him to help position Benchmark's value proposition and effectively show it massive potential.

Ian Sibusiso Gwebu

Chemical Engineer

Ian Gwebu spent well over 20 years in the pulp and paper industry. With a Masters in Advanced Chemical Engineering, Ian is passionate about how we can solve problems associated with waste as a result of the products we consume.